Oxford Borough asked to boost efforts to slow down speeders on Third Street

08/13/2014 12:36PM
● Published by Lev

By Steven Hoffman

Staff Writer

Several property owners raised concerns
about speeding in town at the Oxford Borough Council meeting on
Monday night, including one businessman who said that he's worried
that an innocent person might be hurt or killed trying to get out of
the vehicle as motorists speed by.

Jack Baron, who owns businesses on
North Third Street, implored Oxford officials to take steps to have
the speed limit of 25 miles an hour enforced in that commercial area.

“I want safety in front of my
stores,” he said. “Traffic doesn’t bother me. It’s the
vehicles that are going twice or three times the speed limit that
bother me.”

Despite the posted speed limit,
motorists frequently exceed that by wide margins, especially during
morning and evening rush hours and on weekends. Baron said that when
motorists get a green light in the center of town, they will quickly
pick up speed and are often going much faster than the posted limit
by the time they reach his business a short distance away.

Municipal police departments in
Pennsylvania are currently restricted from using radar to monitor how
fast motorists are traveling. Baron said that bringing in the State
Police to use radar in that area would be a good deterrent and could
stop the speeding.

“I think we need the State Police in
here to show a presence,” he said.

Baron added that he spent about two
years working to get the speed limit in that area reduced to 25 miles
an hour, but it doesn’t help if motorists know that the speed
limits aren’t being enforced.

“I want that enforced,” he said.

The discussions about speeding on Mount
Vernon Street also continued. Last month, several residents told
council about their concerns about prevalent speeding on the street.
The borough’s Local Traffic Advisory Committee is looking into the
issue, including the possibility of installing speed humps to slow
down motorists. For now, residents on the street are banding together
to watch for speeders.

In other business at Monday night's
meeting, borough council voted, at the suggestion of council member
Randy Teel, to table the issue of parking permits in the borough
until there is some sort of change with the parking situation in
town. Council had been considering instituting parking permits in
response to some complaints about parking in the business district.
The idea to replace some metered parking spots with permit parking
was briefly considered, but officials decided not to proceed at this
point.

Oxford Borough Council will meet again
on Monday, Aug. 18.

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